Process of tackless shoemaking



Nov. 13, 1951 v. KNEELAND PROCESS OF TACKLESS SHOEMAKING 2 SHEETS'SHEET 1 Filed Sept. 21, 1949 Nov. 13, 1951 v. KNEELAND PROCESS OF TACKLESS SHOEMAKING 2 Sl-lEETSSI-1EET 2 Filed Sept. 21, 1949 Juda c $07 14444- L /("m u/M Patented Nov. 13,. 1951 ES PATENT 0F F I CE PROCESS OF. TACKLESSSHOEMAKING Verne:Ii..Kneeland, Manchester, N. H.

Atlnlicatinnsentember 21, 19.49, Serial.No. 11, 7,027

This invention comprisest-a' new and improved which the tack puller'has overlooked and failed to remove. When. this occursthere is. no'remedy short Of cutting the hoe. off the customers foot; This isa troublesome and. painful operation and the irate customer is. prone. to, bring legal action for his sufieringand damages. Manufacturers endeavor to guard'against such costly accidents by employing operators.- in the. packing room to inspect their shoes for tacks by feelingwith their fingers in. the forepart of the. shoe. This is a time-consuming operation beside being an extremely unpleasant; job. for. the. operator whose fingers are often. scratched and torn in finding the ofiendingtacks.

The present. invention is. characterized by the. entire omission of any insole. tacking operation, and in one aspect. incl-udesthe steps. of pulling over. and tacking anupper upon. a bare last and theninsertingon the bottom ofv the last an insole member. whichisshaped' toclear. the pulling overtacks as..forexample, by having. notches or per, thinner materialmay be. used. for. the insole. han. heretofore; fo xample. wher sa 3v iron:

insole is the lightest. insole, now considered; practical, in accordance with my invention a, 1 iron.

insole may be advantageously employed. Thus, in: addition. to theeli-mination; of insole tacks, an important economy in the. cost of insoles is achieved.

The. present invention may be practised most advan age usly when h he l seat, end f. h upp r isesecu-rely anchoredlinplacerand prefer ably this. is. accompli hed by the invention dis: clos d coenending. application Ser. No. mlzafiledrlanuarr izrlseinnow LettersPatent 12lo- 2,,52 e,&8.1.., dated. September; .2.. 1.950... Ac:- cordingly, I propose to mold the counter portion oi the upper and. heel-seat nail it to a short in solje member, for example, an insole member extending throughout the shank or possibly to the ball line of the shoe. To the forward ends of the molded counter portion the rear corners of a vamp may be securedand then the last may beinserted from the bottom of the shoe through the open forepart of the vamp. and the insole member securely located upon the bottom of the last. Thus thewhole rear end of the. shoe is preformed and placed; in fitting. engagement with therear end of'the last, where it adequately resistsv the, strain of. the. pulling over operation which, as already explained, is carried out upon the bar forepart of the last. A specially shaped or. cut-out. insole. member is. now inserted on the last bottom and united at its rear end to the short. insole member which has; been presented with the molded counter portion of the upper. Thus. the insole? is completed and the toe and side lasting operations may be carried out as usual.

This procedure brings out another advantage of. my invention in that; having secured thev rear corners. of, the vamp in. placev at the shank, the pulling overoperation tends. to draw the upper into place along both sides of the shank and .forepart so that the sidelasting operation is reduced to its lowest terms and may be. carried outwith extreme. convenience and rapidity.

These and otherfeatures of the invention. will bebest understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred manner of practisingthe. improved processselected for purposes of illustration and shown in. the accompanying drawings inwhich:

Fig, 1 is abottom view of the counter portion of the shoe andthe rear insole. section,

Fig. 2 is asimilar'view showing the vamp in position to be secured to the. counter portion of the shoe,

Fig. 3' is a similar view showing-"the last; inserteol in the upper and the vamp in pulled over condition,

Fig. 4. is a plan view of the foreport insole member,

trated, in, its application to the'manufacture of mens. slippersbut it will be. understood that it is in no sense limited to thator to'any specific type" oishoe but may be advantageously employedin" the manufacture of any shoe having a pre-molded counter portion.

The preferred procedure consists in uniting to a short insole section II) the molded counter portion II of a shoe by a heel seat lasting operation in which the inturned flange of the counter portion is secured by tacks l2 to the margin of the insole section. The insole section It] comprises the heel seat and shank portion of the insole and terminates at its forward edge in a wide bevel which eventually forms part of a cemented beveled joint with a forepart insole section. The

counter portion I I may be lined or unlined and is usually provided with a counter stiffener not herein shown. It may be molded separately or simultaneously with the heel seat forming step as desired and it will be noted that its forward ends are left unsecured at this stage as shown in Fig. 1.

The next step consists in locating the two rear corners of the vamp I4 in the proper location as indicated by match marks 9 in the margin of the insole section I0. The corners of the vamp are then secured in place by staples I5 which are driven through the inturned margin of the counter portion II, the underlying corners of the vamp, and the margin of the insole, and clenched on the inner face of the insole section. The vamp may be lined or unlined depending upon the type of shoe under construction, but as herein shown the vamp is provided with a lining I6. It will be noted that the forepart of the upper, that is to say, the vamp, is open at this stage so that a last may be inserted into the upper through this opening and positioned with its counter portion embracing the rear end of the last and the insole section II) in position upon the last bottom. The insertion of a last in this manner constitutes the next step of the processes of my invention, and to facilitate the step I prefer to employ a last having a low and rounded comb as shown in my patent above identified.

Having inserted the last I3 in the manner above explain-ed and as shown in Fig. 3, the lined vamp I4 is pulled over and tacked to the bare last bottom by side tacks I1 and a toe tack I8. In this operation the whole rear end of the shoe is firmly anchored in the proper position upon the last and accordingly the vamp is securely held against the forward draft of the pulling over machine. It may be noted at this point that the process as heretofore described entirely eliminates the necessity of using an assembling machine to place the upper properly upon the last, because when the counter portion and heel seat have been properly formed the whole rear end of the upper perfectly fits the last in exactly the proper position thereon. The forward draft of the upper in the pulling over operation draws the sides of the upper in over the shank portion of the last since the rear corners of the vamp are tacked in place at substantially the narrowest point in the shank. Side lasting of the upper is thereby partially effected or at least greatly faciltated.

The next step of the process consists in inserting upon the last bottom and within the updrawn margin of the vamp an insole section 22 of the general character shown in Fig. 4, that is to say, a forepart section having notches I9 in its sides to clear the side pulling over tacks I1, and a notch 20 in the contour of the toe to clear the toe pulling over tack I8. The rear edge of the insole section 22 is provided with a transverse bevel 2I which may be coated with cement and is adapted to fit with and be attached to the cor- 4 responding bevel of the rear insole section I I]. It will be seen that the insole section 22, positioned as shown in Fig. 5, is held securely in place by the margin of the vamp and by its attachment to the rear insole section II]. The section 22 may be of any suitable insole material and may be substantially thinner and more easily flexible than the material usually employed in a full length insole.

Having completed the insole by inserting and attaching the section 22, the shoemaking process may be completed in the usual manner in the course of which the pulling over tacks are removed and the margin of the upper cement lasted to the insole first about the toe of the shoe and then along the sides and shank thereof. While the toe lasting may be effected in the usual manner, as already suggested the side lasting which has been partially effected by the forward draft of the upper may be accomplished very quickly and effectively by hand or otherwise. The shoe bottom may be completed by laying and cementing an outsole in place.

The process of my invention has been described up to this point as applied to the manufacture of a cement or Compo shoe. It may, however, be advantageously employed in the manufacture of welt shoes as suggested in Fig. 7. In this case the rear corners of the vamp will be stapled to the upstanding rib of the insole 23 by staples 24. After the welt insole has been completed by procedure similar to that above explained, the over lasted margin of the upper may be sewn with the welt to the rib of the insole and the shoe completed by the usual steps of welt shoemaking.

It will be further understood that my invention contemplates the employment of a full length insole or insole member wherever that is convenient or advantageous in shoes of the type being manufactured, that is, a complete insole having notches or recesses to clear the pulling over tacks may. be employed instead of the short insole member I0 of Figs. 1 to 8 of the drawings.

Having thus disclosed the process of my invention and described in detail an illustrative manner of carrying it out, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. The process of shoemaking without insole tacking which includes the steps of anchoring on a last the rear end of an upper having a molded counter-portion, pulling the forepart of the upper over upon the bare forepart of a last, inserting on the last bottom in unattached condition an insole member notched to clear the pulling over tacks, and subsequently lasting the forepart of the upper to the said insole member.

2. The process of shoemaking which includes the steps of placing the heal seat portion of an insole without tacking on a last bottom, pulling over the forepart of an upper upon the bare forepart of the last, inserting on the last bottom in unattached condition the forepart of an insole cut out to clear the pulling over tacks, completing the insole, and lasting the upper to the completed insole.

3. The process of shoemaking which includes the steps of placing on a last a short insole section with a molded counter-portion which has been heel seat nailed thereto together with a vamp fastened at its rear corners to the ends of the counter-portion, pulling over and tacking the vamp upon the bare forepart of the last, placing on the last bottom in unattached condition the forepart section of an insole notched to clear the pulling over tacks, uniting the two insole sections 5 on the last, and lasting the vamp to the completed insole.

4. The process of shoemaking including the steps of heel-seat nailing a moulded counter-portion to a short insole section off the last, fastening the rear corners of a vamp to the ends of the counter portion, inserting a last through the open forepar't of the vamp, pulling over the vamp and tacking to the bare forepart of the last, inserting on the last bottom in unattached condition an insole section notched to clear the pulling over tacks, and then removing the pulling over tacks and lasting the vamp to the combined insole sections.

5. The process of shoemaking which includes the steps of pulling over and tacking a vamp upon a bare last after the pulling over operation, inserting on the bottom of the last in unattached condition an insole member which is shaped to clear the pulling over tacks, and then lasting the vamp to the insole member.

6. The process of shoemaking which includes the steps of pulling over a vamp upon a bare last, tacking the vamp at the toe and sides, after the tacking operation inserting on the bottom of the last inunattached condition an insole member notched at the toe and sides to clear the pulling over tacks, and subsequently cement lasting the vamp to the insole member.

7. The process of shoemaking including the steps of molding off the last the counter portion and heel seat of an upper and uniting it to a short insole section, fastening the rear corners of a vamp to the ends of the counter portion of the upper, inserting a last through the open forepart of the vamp, pulling over the vamp in dry condition on a bare last, after the pulling over operation inserting inside the vamp in unattached condition an insole member shaped to clear the pulling over tacks, and subsequently removing the pulling over tacks and lasting the vamp to the insole.

8. The process of shoemaking including the steps of molding oil the last the counter portion of an upper and uniting it to a short insole section, fastening the rear corners'of a vamp to the forward ends of the counter portion, inserting a last through the open forepart of the vamp, drafting the vamp forwardly and tacking it at the toe to the bare last thus drawing the margin of the vamp above the edge of the last bottom, then inserting within the margin of the vamp in unattached condition an insole section shaped to clear the said tacks and to be held in position by the indrawn but unlasted margin of the vamp, and subsequently toe lasting and side lasting the vamp.

VERNE L, KNEELAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 379,640 French Mar. 20, 1888 491,258 Day Feb. 7, 1893 1,034,035 Scanlon July 30, 1912 2,499,510 Kneeland Mar. 7, 1950 2,505,032 De Voos Apr. 25, 1950 

